Florida Atlantic University’s decision to accept a nearly $6 million sponsorship from a private prison system operator for FAU’s football stadium naming rights has, not surprisingly, been met with resistance and now, a petition.

The controversial GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla. with facilities throughout the world, also operates an immigration detention center in nearby Pompano Beach, Fla. On Tuesday, a petition was started by Dream Activist with the intent of having the GEO Group’s name removed from FAU's stadium, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Florida Atlantic's 30,000-seat football stadium will have a new sponsor, prison operator GEO Group. (AP Photo)

FAU play-by-play announcer Ken LaVicka is floating the nickname, ‘Owlcatraz,’ although he is not involved with the petition.

The GEO Group has been the subject of numerous allegations of corruption and human rights violations.

For instance, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration—OSHA—found in December 2011 that at a GEO facility in Mississippi, “guards were stabbed, bitten, punched and kicked by inmates, and the company did little to protect them,” the Palm Beach Post reported in August 2012. GEO contested OSHA’s findings.

That, however, is just one of many regulatory actions and lawsuits against GEO. The chief executive officer of the company is George Zoley, who has multiple degrees from FAU and is a former chairman of the university’s board of trustees.

FAU has for several years sought corporate naming rights for the stadium, which was built about two years ago. The sponsorship is for 12 years.

FAU president Mary Jane Saunder declined an interview request from The Miami Herald, but issued a statement about the largest donation the university’s athletic department has ever received.

“This gift is a true representation of The GEO Group’s incredible generosity to FAU and the community it serves,” Saunder said.

The company is worth almost $3 billion and is currently in the middle of multimillion-dollar lawsuit about mistreatment of prisoners, the Herald reports.